Excellence in Workforce Strategies – Shared Nursing Governance Group Addresses Culture, Education and Patient Safety
Dec. 6, 2024) – Strategies that address workforce recruitment and retention are essential to providing optimal health in Kansas. The Workforce Strategies Award recognizes a team of employees, providers or volunteers who have significantly contributed to the well-being, retention or recruitment of health care workers at their facility.
Ascension Via Christi Manhattan's Nursing Shared Governance group started in May 2023 to recognize challenges and barriers within the hospital that are harmful to patient care and/or hospital culture. The group worked together across nursing disciplines to find evidence-based practices to solve challenges. The group emphasized patient safety, as the hospital has a CMS four-star rating and an "A" rating from Leapfrog.
The NSG offered bedside nurses a formal platform to make positive changes that impacted direct patient care. Frontline nurses were allowed to take ownership and accountability for recurrent challenges.
One of these critical programs has been to form a robust Preceptor Program. NSG collaborated with Clinical Professional Development to utilize a self-paced online learning tool with an interactive session. This gives preceptors consistency during the onboarding process and offers a holistic experience to new hires.
Charge nurses were another group of associates needing additional resources to ensure success in their roles. NSG collaborated with Clinical Professional Development to offer a Charge Nurse Education Seminar. This education focused on conflict management, compassion fatigue, safety huddles, emotional intelligence, leadership skills, patient experience and other important qualities for the charge nurse role.
Another big win for the NSG was the formation of A Ticket to Ride. This program improved patient care by enhancing the inconsistent handoff process. The Ticket to Ride form includes all the pertinent information about the patient, and it stays with the patient while the patient travels to/from various areas of the hospital.
"As a result of the group's initiative, there has been a noticeable change in teamwork, camaraderie and empowerment of our team members to improve work culture. We have been able to implement some really wonderful programs that enhance employee satisfaction, education and patient care," said Tanya Brabender, director of clinical operations.
--Shelby Stacy